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Sheepishly, she said, “I ended up down that way.” She pointed in the direction of Central Denton. “Behind one of our neighbors’ houses.”
Dave said, “I was headed directly away from the house for a while, but then she texted me and said she didn’t know where she was, so I turned back.”
“We have Androids so we don’t have the Find My Phone app,” Shelly explained. “And Google Maps doesn’t exactly work in the middle of the forest. Spotty service. I was trying to tell him where I was but in terms of landmarks, there’s not much besides trees.”
Dave said, “I stayed on the phone with Shel but then I got a little confused out there, too. Eventually, I found the house again. She got into a neighbor’s yard.”
“That’s when we realized we needed help,” Shelly said.
Behind them, tires crunched over gravel. They all turned to see Luke’s old, dirt-covered pickup truck pulling in behind Noah’s SUV. He hopped out, leaving his door open long enough for a large bloodhound to jump out of the truck. As Luke approached them, Blue dutifully loped along at his side. While Blue was sweet and adorable, Luke was an imposing figure, six feet, lean and muscular. Now that he was a civilian and no longer a state trooper, he wore his brown hair to his shoulders. Stubble darkened his cheeks. When they were together, Josie had liked his close-cropped hair and clean-shaven face but now she thought this more informal, relaxed look suited him more. He lifted a hand to wave at the Patchetts, and Josie noticed Shelly visibly recoil at the sight of Luke’s hands.
Josie and her team were so used to the sight of them, they barely registered just how unsightly and damaged they appeared. During the case that had ended his career as a state trooper and his relationship with Josie, as well as sent him to prison for a stint, he had been tortured. Both his hands had been smashed to bits. Silvered scars ran like thick, ropy veins across both his hands from the multiple surgeries he’d undergone. The doctors had done their best to piece his fingers back together but still, the index and middle fingers of his right hand were flattened, and the top knuckle of his left pinky stuck outward at an unnatural angle.
With Luke still out of earshot, Dave Patchett whispered, “What happened to him?”
With a stiff smile, Gretchen said, “An accident. I assure you that his injuries do not impact his work at all.”
“Yeah,” Noah said, a note of defensiveness in his voice. “He’s the best. So is Blue.”
Josie looked at her husband, stifling a smile. Months earlier, when Luke had joined their team, the tension between him and Luke had been palpable. Josie was glad it was behind them now. Whatever their history, Luke and Blue were an invaluable and much-needed addition to Denton PD.
Chastened, Dave looked down as Luke and Blue joined them. If Luke had seen their looks of horror, he didn’t show it. Blue nudged one of Josie’s hands with his head, and she rewarded him with a scratch behind both floppy ears. Once introductions were made, Luke said, “Blue will need an item of clothing from one of your girls.”
Shelly disappeared into the house to find something. Luke addressed Dave. “Do either of your daughters have any medical conditions I should know about before we get started?”
Josie saw a flicker of hesitation cross Dave’s face. Then he said, “No. Nothing. They’re both very healthy.”
“Do you know what they were wearing when they went into the woods?”
“Uh, no. They had already gone out for a walk when we went out.”
Shelly came running from the front door, a small soccer jersey in her arms. “This is Savannah’s,” she said as she reached them. The front of it was covered in dirt. The number 12 had been stitched onto the back. “Will this work?”
Luke smiled. From his belt, he unhooked a harness and lead. Blue sat obediently, tail wagging. Kneeling, Luke slid the harness on and clipped the lead to it. He murmured a few words into one of Blue’s ears. Then he took the jersey from Shelly Patchett and let Blue sniff it, giving the dog some last instructions. Within seconds, Blue was tugging at the lead, pulling Luke around to the back of the house.
“He’s got it,” Luke said, jogging after the dog.
Josie watched his form recede. “I’m going to go with them,” she said.
FIVE
Blue moved swiftly, head swinging back and forth, nose twitching. Gone was the playful, lumbering sweetheart Josie knew. In his place was a dog driven with purpose, singularly focused on Savannah Patchett’s scent. At the back of the Patchetts’ home was the playset that Dave had told them about. It was a huge wooden structure shaped like a pirate ship. Beside it, discarded sports equipment trailed to the edge of the yard where the grass ended and the forest began. No fence separated the two. Josie scanned the perimeter to see if there was some well-worn path that the kids used to go into the woods, but there was nothing.
Blue found a small area where the overgrown weeds had been tamped down slightly and surged over it into the woods. Luke followed, laser-focused on the task at hand. Josie trailed behind them, giving them enough space so that she was not a hindrance to their search. In a soft voice, Luke offered Blue occasional praise and encouragement. The ground beneath them began to incline. Fallen branches, gnarled tree roots, brambles, knee-high brush, and large stones littered the way but none of it impeded Blue. Josie had been on searches with him and Luke a handful of times now and she was always surprised by how quickly and nimbly Blue navigated even the trickiest terrain. The late-afternoon sunlight filtering through the trees dappled every surface. Under the thick foliage, the air was cooler but at the pace they were moving, Josie started to sweat within minutes. Ahead of her, she saw perspiration on Luke’s shirt forming a V in the center of his back. He stopped near a group of boulders to give Blue some water, pulling a bottle and collapsible bowl from the backpack he carried.
He offered her a bottle but she refused. “Save it for Blue.”
Luke smiled. “He’s been heading pretty much in the same direction, west.”
Josie said, “According to the parents, they were looking in the opposite direction when they searched earlier.”
“You have any idea how far this patch of woods goes?”
Josie thought about the Google map she’d studied on the way to the Patchetts’ house. “About three miles to the west, give or take. It comes out on Kelleher Road. Gretchen already sent patrols out there to search from that direction as well as the north and south sides.”
“Any structures?” he asked as Blue resumed his search.
“Not along that road. Not for another five or six miles, at least. It’s pretty remote the further you move away from the city.”
